Following last year’s UN Climate Talks in Paris and as part of a global effort to mitigate climate change, Panalpina has delivered on its promise and set science-based emissions targets for the coming years. Panalpina is now one of 32 international companies to have such targets that have been approved by the Science Based Targets initiative.

For the fourth consecutive year, UNICEF and Panalpina have joined forces to fly relief goods to an African country where population movements, food insecurity, malnutrition and natural disasters have led to a health emergency and precarious humanitarian situation. In the morning hours, a Panalpina chartered cargo aircraft landed in Chad with more than 80 tons of life-saving goods on board.

In the first nine months of 2016, Panalpina recorded a slight increase of EBIT and consolidated profit (adjusted for one-offs). EBIT reached CHF 93.6 million and the consolidated profit CHF 72.6 million. Against the backdrop of receding markets in air and ocean freight, volumes increased by 9% in Air Freight but decreased by 9% in Ocean Freight. Logistics continued positively on the EBIT level.

Panalpina and Cardiff Business School have strengthened their partnership with the launch of a new Logistics Manufacturing Research Centre. The center will conduct leading research into the fields of distributed manufacturing, 3D printing, the circular economy and the impact of digital manufacturing on global supply chains. The new center has already secured its first research grant.

Panalpina and 3D printing company Shapeways have entered into a strategic partnership which will enable both companies to expand their digital manufacturing capabilities globally. Panalpina sees digital manufacturing and 3D printing as a perfect complement to its Logistics Manufacturing Services offering, giving customers the possibility to customize products and bring production closer to demand.

In the first half of 2016, Panalpina demonstrated that it can compensate for contracting oil and gas business with organic growth in other sectors even as air and ocean freight markets declined. Adjusted for an oil and gas related restructuring provision, EBIT remained stable at CHF 60.8 million and consolidated profit increased slightly to CHF 47.9 million for the first six months of the year.

At the annual general meeting of Panalpina World Transport (Holding) Ltd., held on May 10, 2016, 64.97% of the share capital was represented. All proposals of the board of directors were approved by a clear majority and Peter Ulber was confirmed as Panalpina’s new chairman of the board of directors.

Panalpina preserved profitability in the first quarter of 2016 despite the continued contraction of the global oil and gas business. The company reported an EBIT of CHF 24.0 million and a consolidated profit of CHF 17.3 million. In a continuously soft market, transport volumes grew in Air Freight but decreased in Ocean Freight. Logistics reported the fifth positive quarter on EBIT level.

Less than Container Load (LCL) services are an important tool for shippers to optimize their international supply chains. Expanding and improving the global LCL network therefore remains a key priority for Panalpina and it now offers four sailings per week from Shanghai to Singapore, an industry first, and two new exclusive services from Egypt to Singapore and from India to Switzerland via Italy.

During 2015, Panalpina continued its commitment to reducing its environmental impact, with a focus on greenhouse gas emissions. At the UN Climate Talks in Paris held in December 2015, it was announced that Panalpina was one of over 100 international companies and the only logistics company so far to commit to set reduction targets as part of the Science Based Targets Initiative.

As well as providing an overview of our achievements over the past year in developing tailor-made, value-added services for our customers, the Annual Report 2015 features highlights from our products, regions, industry verticals and corporate functions. New sections include our business model, case studies on the Charter Network and Perishables, and our approach to innovation.​

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In the year 2015, Panalpina's EBIT reached CHF 117.2 million (currency adjusted: CHF 134.2 million or +15.0%) and consolidated profit CHF 88.2 million (currency adjusted: CHF 100.6 million or +16.3%). While volumes in Air Freight and Ocean Freight dropped slightly below previous year levels, Logistics achieved the first positive EBIT result for the full year.

Panalpina’s board of directors has nominated Peter Ulber as the company’s new chairman for the upcoming Annual General Meeting (AGM). He would succeed Dr Rudolf W. Hug who has served as chairman since 2007 and does not stand for reelection due to the age limitation in the company’s bylaws. Stefan Karlen, currently regional CEO for Asia Pacific, has been designated to succeed Ulber as the next CEO.

Three years ago, Panalpina and Cardiff University in Wales (UK), set out to search for the ‘hidden formula’ for lean inventories. This innovative partnership has allowed Panalpina to launch D2ID, a new inventory forecasting application.The co-innovation approach has been so successful, that the research is now being expanded to include new manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing.

Panalpina reached an important milestone in the implementation of its new operational IT platform. Singapore and Switzerland were the first countries to go live with the latest version of the SAP® Transportation Management application. Numerous customer shipments in December and January 2016 have demonstrated that the software is ready to be rolled out further.

Panalpina has received its highest Carbon Disclosure Project supply chain program score to date, reaching a score of 94 points out of 100. Furthermore, during the UN Climate Talks in Paris earlier this month, it was announced that Panalpina is one of 114 international companies that have committed to set science-based emissions targets as part of a global effort to mitigate climate change.

Dubai has become the latest location where Panalpina offers Logistics Manufacturing Services to its customers. Rather than holding stock to cover every possible outcome, Panalpina assembles products from semi-knocked down (SKD) units to specific customer requirements at the last possible stage before shipping them to the end customer.

For the third consecutive year, UNICEF and Panalpina have joined forces to fly much-needed relief goods to an African country where a recurring crisis is taking a heavy toll on society and its weakest members: children. In the morning hours, a Panalpina chartered cargo aircraft landed in Burundi with 70 tons of primary medical care goods on board.

Panalpina is to acquire a majority stake in Airflo, a company based in Kenya and the Netherlands specialized in the export handling of flowers and vegetables. Airflo is part of Dutch Flower Group (DFG), the world’s largest flower and plant trader. The acquisition reflects Panalpina’s continued expansion in Africa and its increasing focus on the perishables business.

Three years ago, Panalpina announced its intention to deploy a single warehouse management system (WMS) across all of its logistics facilities throughout the world. The roll-out of the RedPrairie – now JDA – WMS is progressing ahead of schedule thanks to Panalpina’s experts in all regions and a specially developed and unique fast deployment model.